THE news tends to be dominated by politics again – not the general stuff of how to sort out the mess in public finances, but more of the old slanging match style.

Whilst this is of great hilarity for those of us in Westminster, it is less enthralling to the rest of the country who generally feel that those who represent us all in Westminster ought to do so without being so partisan.

The latest rows are centred around the influence of the unions on the Labour Party, but also bring in the wider issues of financing for political parties in general.

My own opinion is that the unions perform a very important function and I have said on many occasions that I am a fan of the work they do.

It is vital that people are represented at various levels and the unions speak up for a significant section of the public.

I have done plenty of work with the Communication Workers Union, who look after postal workers, and the Communities Union, who are big in Kidderminster serving those working in the carpet industry.

They have always been people who I hold in respect and who I find it rewarding to do business with. I also think that their link with the Labour Party is important – the Labour Party was established by the unions so that the working man had representation in Parliament, and there is no harm that the Labour Party is funded by them.

But crucial to all this is that it is vital that those who fund political parties – Conservatives and other parties (including Labour) are funded by membership subscriptions as well as large donations from businesses and individuals – do not receive any undue preference over others with regard policy or favour. In order to ensure that everyone knows what is going on, the political parties have to declare their funding arrangements to the Electoral Commission and do both an annual return as well as make periodic notifications to let everyone know who has made a donation.

Indeed, even MPs, councillors and candidates must do personal notifications both to the electoral commission and, in the case of MPs, to Parliament. All these donations can be found at the Electoral Commission website and on the Parliament website under the Register of Members Interests (which also publishes outside financial interests and details of related persons on the payroll.

Transparency is vital to fair democracy and that is why all this stuff is freely available for scrutiny. But it is important that there is no cover-up – otherwise democracy will not be trusted.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London